What brain fart? Sounds like you're attempting to be perfect. We're not. The great thing is we're all entitled to an opinion.

That said, it's possible on some level we were hoping Dean would continue to lead the pack for own selfish general election reasons. (Easy Republican win.)

Kerry is a entirely different kettle of fish. Bottom line, his military record nonwithstanding, he's consistently exhibited neo-socialist leanings when it comes to military spending.

mighty big of ya Annie-

i too have been musing on why dean has fallen so hard from what we in blogsphere thought was the top of the heap.
last night when they started telling us in new mexico the results of the balloting, they started with the absentee and mail in votes that had already been counted. i was thinking that dean would have it, but kerry had that segment of the vote, followed closely by clark and then dean.
(we have a larger percentage of military in new mexico than many states, which explains the clark numbers.)

as i thought about it, i think that dean's fall looks bigger than it really is because of where we as bloggers sit in relation to the rest of the population. bloggers tend to get their information from the interweb-thingy and are closer to the technology. that same technology is the major vehicle for the dean campaign, so in essence dean APPEARED bigger than he really was to those of us who are writing / looking at this from this angle. because we are as you say, "the new media" people pay attention and give credence to what is said / written. all the hype about dean turned out to be just that, hype. in reality, dean's support has always been less than indicated by what we see on the web.

maybe it would have kept on had no one made such a big deal of the "scream".

truthfully. i didn't really care about the scream as much as i cared about the reaction TO the scream. as it turns out, it probably is for the best, as recent polls do indeed show that Kerry will be replacing bush come next january. and to me, it's all about beating bush. i think you will see the democratic party begin to rally around Kerry bcause as sad as it may seem, getting bush and friends out of power is indeed the priority of a great many americans.

arf!

coyote

Those polls, coyote, reflect the free media Kerry is enjoying since he is the new frontrunner. We have yet to see Bush et al. start an ad blitz with the almost 200 million they have. Since kerry doesn't have alot of money now, I'd expect an ad blitz soon so that way Bush can change voters perceptions of who kerry is (however crappy Bush's team is at winning the PR war over Iraq, they won't hesitate to act for his re-election). Also the media haven't yet started sniping/investigating kerry, what with his very liberal voting record and loathing of America during vietnam.

That doesn't mean this might not be a close election, regardless of who the president currently is, the country lately has been quite divided -- and the most predictable factor for what side you are on/going to vote for is church attendance. Conservatives not only see the liberal agenda as wrong, but a threat. And it is the same vice versa. With such strong divisions who can energize their base more? Well right now more people attend church & vote than those who don't (thank God) so I still think Bush will win, but as was pointed out on NPR this morning, Gore would've won the election in 2000 if he simply carried one more state -- and it did NOT have to be a southern state. Can Kerry duplicate his strategy with similar success? Even if he does, he will face a majority GOP congress that is pissed off that Bush is gone.

Scof-

you do realize that Kerry actually went to vietnam and fought right?

ya there will be smearing and such, but bush will need to be very careful when his camp talks about military service etc..

i'd rather see a balance with the legislative branch and the whitehouse in different hands. that way niether side can push through crap and real debate has to take place. mind you, i don't see right as a huge threat, as long as there is a balance.

bush is NOT your mom and dad's republican, and his ilk represents something not before seen in american politics.

if you have read any of my previous writings, you might see that i'm not really anti-conservative, but i do think that the neo-conservative bunch is indeed bad for not only the usa, but the world in general.

in short, defeating bush will bring back a balance that while somewhat stifling, will help put our nation back on an even keel.

:-)

coyote

The Bush folks haven't even put on their flight jackets yet. The Dems nominee will be trounced with little effort because they aren't prepared for the real world.

d-rod-

i hope more of the bush camp think like you.

:-)

will make that victory party all that much sweeter.

arf.

btw.. i earned my wings and flight jacket the hard way, rather than just borrowing one from someone else.

grins

coyote

Annika, I've thought all along that Edwards was the dark horse of the group--although, to be fair, Kerry sure does look the part. ;-)

As far as John Kerry's post-Vietnam activities, since I wasn't there I have to rely on the views of those who were. Such as this man:

http://www.jenmartinez.com/mt/archives/2004_02.php#000581

Maybe one day people will learn that their actions have consequences...intended AND otherwise.

But what is Kerry going to do for the investor class? Getting my tax stuff together yesterday I realized Bush's ace-in-the-hole. Every family of moderate income is going to get $600 per child, plus a hefty refund simply from filling out their 1040 EZs. Think also of all the poor, single mothers with four kids -- $2,400 bucks with a letter from the president, just to drive the point that the GOP wants you to have extra $. For the rest -- sure, an average 2 child family isn't going to have their life change dramatically from $1,200 extra bucks. But folks are going to spend this money, which will help drive the DOW. 60% of Americans are now invested in the stock market, and I submit these folks vote too.

rezdog-
nice handle by the way, i always like the canine types.

you bring up an interesting point, and one that might just help w keep his job. because people are more concerned with a $ now than a $ later, folks might just fall for this silly tax break hocus pocus. if the national debt continues such that it is, our kids will be paying out the nose just to make the intrest on the nations "note".. and their kids will have to pay down that debt as well.

so it's a suckers bet.

as for Kerry's stance post vietnam, sounds to me like he did his time in the jungle and had earned his right to an opinion on the matter.

unlike some others we know.

arf

coyote

'Yote, Kerry may have served, but he came to loathe the military after his service as he comments of 30 years ago show:

http://www.nationalreview.com/flashback/wfb200402040837.asp

The above is an excellent speech penned by William F. Buckly for an address at West Point taking Kerry on those few decades ago:

"If America is everything that John Kerry says it is, what is it appropriate for us to do? ...John Kerry's assault on this country did not rise fullblown in his mind, like Venus from the Cypriot Sea. It is the crystallization of an assault upon America which has been fostered over the years by an intellectual class given over to self-doubt and self-hatred, driven by a cultural disgust with the uses to which so many people put their freedom. The assault on the military, the many and subtle vibrations of which you feel as keenly as James Baldwin knows the inflections of racism, is an assault on the proposition that what we have, in America, is truly worth defending. The military is to be loved or despised according as it defends that which is beloved or perpetuates that which is despised. The root question has not risen to such a level of respectability as to work itself into the platform of a national political party, but it lurks in the rhetoric of the John Kerry...Is America worth it?"

Kerry was not trying to "argue that our commitment in Vietnam and our attempt to redeem it were tragically misconceived." rather that "it was less than the highest tribute to national motivation, to collective idealism, and to international rectitude."

With his ascension to the Democratic nomination quite certain, we can see now that a national party is coming ever closer to posing that question: Is American worth it? This coyote is what is radical, not Bush. Perhaps they think America really is worth it, but only if they can change nearly everything about it. Putting things in perspective if you think Bush is radical you must hate most of our history because it is that history which reflects largely conservative themes: the importance of family & duty to God & country as the popular themes in our culture (unlike the post 60's themes of if it feels good do it and a doctrine of tolerance)

P.S. -- Everyone, whether they served or not, has a right to form an opinion on the matter. Just because one served doesn't give mean they:

(1) are exempt from criticism for holding an awfully stupid viewpoint and

(2) can make outrageous claims that "crimes (by US troops in Vietnam were) committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command."

Scof, you are too well read.

so scof,

i guess what you are saying it that everything that the us did in vietnam was good and it was a great war that we should have taken part in?

my father was in vietnam and related many stories of the crap we pulled there.

he wasnt proud of his country for what we did there, but he did what he needed to do there because thats what his government wanted him to do.

many of us have done time in the service, and many of us dont often agree with our missions, but we do them anyway. when you are in the military, you do as you are told.

once out of the military, you can feel free to speak out against the brokers of power and the policy makers.

to me it again sounds like kerry did his duty, even though he didnt like it, and once done, had the courage to speak out against the policy makers that he did not agree with.

all this god and country talk is making me want to puke though.

worship whatever god you choose, but keep it the fuck away from my government.

arf

coyote

Ladies and gentleman,

I was a college student during Viet Nam era, '71-'75. Don't say it. Do the math.

Regardless, I had a skull full of mush and had no clue what we were really protesting against. (A lot of us didn't.) Had a high draft lottery number and wasn't drafted.

My take now on the that war--inherited a bad situation from the French, couldn't fight it as we might have.

My advice here is--get past it, and deal with the present. Given the choice, I'll take GWB at the helm of the war on terroism.

Kerry's past miliary spending voting record, and his neo-Socialist leanings are cause for worry.

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